With the lack of success of this year's Lakers team after the preseason talk of whether this was the most stacked team ever, what would be the perfect team for Kobe? List a starting lineup + bench. Caveats are:

1) You can choose from anyone ever to play the game with the exception of the consensus top ten players ever, in chronological order from the year their careers started: Russell (1956-69), Wilt (1959-73), Kareem (1969-70), Magic (1979-91, 1996), Bird (1979-92), Jordan (1984-93, 1995-98, 2001-03), Hakeem (1984-2002), Shaq (1992-2011), and Duncan (1997-current), and LeBron (2003-current).

2) Kobe must be the clear-cut best player on the team, which is why the above are eliminated to prevent any confusion. Whether you think Kobe is better than any or most of the above players is irrelevant. They cannot be chosen.

3) You may not stack the team with First Team All-NBAers, as no team ever has had First Team All-NBAers up and down the lineup. You may have no more than two players on the team who have ever made the All-NBA First Team at any point in their careers aside from Kobe (e.g., he currently has two in Howard and Nash. That's the limit), and none of them can be from the banned group in #1. At least one player in the starting lineup needs to have never made an All-NBA team in his career (aside from Howard and Nash who are the two other First Team All-NBAers, he currently has Gasol, who is 2x Third Team All-NBA and 1x Second Team All-NBA, and Metta World Peace, who is 1x Third Team All-NBA. He needs to have one less All-NBAer than that). You may not choose anyone who has won more MVPs in their career than Kobe, most of whom are already in the banned group, but those whose names are not listed in Rule #1 are ineligible as well.

4) You may not choose starters to fill the bench. Only actual bench players are eligible to be chosen for the bench.

5) Only one of the bench players may have won Sixth Man of the Year. Loading the bench with 6MOY winners is no different from loading the starting lineup with First Team All-NBAers.

6) This is not the place to deliberately bait Kobe fans. If you're going to make a post deliberately designed to antagonize them, do not post in this thread. Bait posts will be reported. (Not that that'll probably do anything here.) I don't care about stupid crap, this is a serious thread.

7)READ THE OP BEFORE POSTING. If a post is made that violates the ground rules that were explicitly laid out, you open yourself up for ridicule as simply reading the OP would have prevented it. It'll be obvious that you didn't actually read the OP before posting.

(I haven't thought of any loopholes people might use, but this space is reserved in case more rules have to be added if people attempt to violate the spirit of this exercise.)

So with those ground rules set, what in your opinion, is the perfect team for Kobe. Explain why it's the perfect team, how each player complements Kobe, what their roles are and why they'll be okay with their roles. Just listing names doesn't show any thought, as anyone can type a bunch of random names. Chemistry is important. I can't stress that enough.

Reason for choices: I don't really envision a scenario where a team beats this record. I am quite positive that it will happen some day, as I believe records are meant to be broken, but for the time being, this season is the one to aim towards.

That being said, the year that I chose for Kobe most closely resembles the year that Jordan had on the Bulls that season (in my opinion). And while we can argue which player is better all day long (I say Jordan), they are undoubtably close, and incredibly similar.

Therefore, incredibily similar, undoubtably close player takes the place of another, and we can theoretically assume that the record/outcomes will be nearly identical.

Edit: not sure the players on the team I "created" fit the caveats listed in OP, but I think it's a realistic answer considering the lack of time parameters.

PG: 12/13 Chalmers. He can obviously play with other superstars, so that's not an issue, and his D and 3p shooting are musts for the PG spot.

SG: 08/09 Kobe. Turnovers and fouls are some of the lowest of his career, and FG% is one of the highest. Less wasted possessions, along with being able to be on the court longer (less fouls). Four 3s attempted per game, at 35%, is not ideal... but at least 35% equates to a better % than 50% on 2s...

SF: 96/97 Glen Rice. Only guy in starting lineup that can't play D. I think we can hide that. Plus... 47% on 3 with 2.6 makes per game. Wow. I don't know enough about his game from that year (aside from the stats), but I'm assuming he'd be able to become a secondary option on O.

PF: 03/04 KG. Go-to post player that also played All-NBA level D. Yes please.
EDIT: Someone pointed out the "Kobe must be clear-cut best player...". So apparently this form of KG doesn't fit that mode.
New PF: 02/03 Jermaine O'neal.

C: 11/12 Tyson Chandler. DPOY, doesn't need the ball on O, but is not entirely useless either (such as Big Ben, Mutombo, etc).

Bench: To OP... my choices are primarily starters that won the 6th MotY award. Is that one of those loopholes you alluded to, or is that ok?

84/85 McHale
10/11 Odom
00/01 McKie
93/94 Dell Curry
08/09 Terry

Last two that don't even really count, both specialists: 08/09 Birdman, 95/96 Hubert Davis.

The bench is primarily an offensive group, designed to come in and just light up the scoreboard. Jet and DC hitting treys? McHale shaking the socks off everyone in the post? Odom and McKie doing all the little things? This bench could beat most starting lineups in the league today. Terry is the lone bench player that would not be an "ideal" fit alongside Kobe, as he needs to shoot, a lot, to be effective, but in a bench role as the "energizer bunny" he's deadly.

PG: 12/13 Chalmers. He can obviously play with other superstars, so that's not an issue, and his D and 3p shooting are musts for the PG spot.

SG: 08/09 Kobe. Turnovers and fouls are some of the lowest of his career, and FG% is one of the highest. Less wasted possessions, along with being able to be on the court longer (less fouls). Four 3s attempted per game, at 35%, is not ideal... but at least 35% equates to a better % than 50% on 2s...

SF: 96/97 Glen Rice. Only guy in starting lineup that can't play D. I think we can hide that. Plus... 47% on 3 with 2.6 makes per game. Wow. I don't know enough about his game from that year (aside from the stats), but I'm assuming he'd be able to become a secondary option on O.

C: 11/12 Tyson Chandler. DPOY, doesn't need the ball on O, but is not entirely useless either (such as Big Ben, Mutombo, etc).

Bench: To OP... my choices are primarily starters that won the 6th MotY award. Is that one of those loopholes you alluded to, or is that ok?

84/85 McHale
10/11 Odom
00/01 McKie
93/94 Dell Curry
08/09 Terry

Last two that don't even really count, both specialists: 08/09 Birdman, 95/96 Hubert Davis.

The bench is primarily an offensive group, designed to come in and just light up the scoreboard. Jet and DC hitting treys? McHale shaking the socks off everyone in the post? Odom and McKie doing all the little things? This bench could beat most starting lineups in the league today. Terry is the lone bench player that would not be an "ideal" fit alongside Kobe, as he needs to shoot, a lot, to be effective, but in a bench role as the "energizer bunny" he's deadly.